How to Create a Glamorous Cinema Poster in Adobe Illustrator

The items we are going to create in this tutorial are well known and recognized by everyone who loves movies as much as I do! Let’s go through an exciting process and challenge ourselves by composing a shiny and glamorous cinema poster.

1. Make the 3D Glasses From Basic Shapes

Step 1

Start by making a rectangle with the help
of the Rectangle Tool (M),and fill
it with a simple linear gradient from grey to lighter grey. Take the Rounded Rectangle Tool and add another
shape above the first one, forming the glass. Fill the shape with a linear
gradient from dark blue to lighter blue.

Step 2

Let’s cut off the corner of the glasses’
rim, creating a place for the nose bridge. Make an even circle with the Ellipse Tool (L) and put it above the
bottom left corner of the rim. Select both shapes and use the Minus Front function of the Pathfinder panel.

Step 3

Double-click on the Reflect Tool (O)
to call out the pop-up options menu and reflect the created shapes over the Vertical Axis. Click the Copy button, creating the second
half of the glasses. Switch the gradient colors of the right half to shades
of red, as on the classic 3D glasses.

Step 4

Let’s add some simple arms to our
glasses.

First of all, create a rectangle and put a
smaller rounded rectangle above it (check out the screenshot below to see the proper position). Further on, click Minus
Front in the Pathfinder panel in
order to cut out the ear form. Select one of the lower anchor points with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and drag it
to the right a bit to make the shape more flowing. Finally, select your shape and go to Effect > Stylize > Round Corners and set the Corner Radius to 1–2 px to make the forms smooth.

Step 5

Now we need to make the arms of the glasses fit the perspective. Let’s transform the shape a bit by
applying Object > Envelope Distort
> Make with Mesh and setting both the Rows and Columns values
to 1.

Step 6

Attach the arm to the right side of the
glasses and bend it using the anchor handles, as shown in the image below.

Step 7

Add the second arm on the other side of the glasses. Select both
parts of the rim and Unite them in Pathfinder to make a single shape.

Step 8

Let’s make the glasses more three-dimensional by
adding some highlights and shadows. Copy
the basic glasses shape and Place it
in Fronttwice(Control-C >
Control-F). Move the upper copy down a bit and use the Minus Front function of Pathfinder
to cut off the unneeded pieces. Fill the remaining stripe with white color.

Add a gentle shadow to the nose bridge part
of the glasses as well.

Step 9

Let’s add some simple reflections to make
the glasses polished and shiny. Draw a few narrow stripes with the Rectangle Tool (M) and turn them into a
Compound Path (Control-8), thus combining
the stripes into one single shape. Rotate the stripes to a 45 degrees angle and put them over the glasses. Cut off the
unneeded parts and fill the shapes with dark blue and dark red, switching the Blending Mode to Screen in the Transparency
panel.

You can add a couple of reflections on the
top part of the glasses as well.

2. Render a Striped Popcorn Bucket

Step 1

Start by making the basic bucket shape from
a rectangle again, but this time make its bottom part narrower by moving the lower anchor points closer to each other.

Go to Object
> Path > Add Anchor Points to create an additional anchor point in
the middle of the bottom part of our bucket. Select the created lower anchor
point and make it smooth with the Convert
Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C). Move it down a bit, making the shape slightly arched.

Step 2

Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool to create the upper edge of the bucket.
Duplicate the base of the bucket and drag the copy up. Cut off the unneeded
parts with the Minus Front function in Pathfinder, forming a shiny golden stripe in the bottom of our bucket.

Step 3

Duplicate the basic part once again and
switch its color to a linear gradient from red to white. Set the Blending Mode to Multiply, thus creating a gentle shadow.

Step 4

Let’s add the recognizable part of most popcorn
buckets—the vertical stripes! Make a set of narrow stripes with the Rectangle Tool (M) and turn them into a
Compound Path (Control-8) as we did
previously. Go to Effect > Warp >
Arc and set the Horizontal Bend
value to 8%.

Step 5

Duplicate the basic bucket shape and
rearrange the objects, putting the copy above the stripes (Control-Shift-]). Select both the stripes and the bucket copy and Make Clipping Mask. Put another basic
bucket shape on top and fill it with a three-colored linear gradient
(orange-black-red), switching to Screen
Blending Mode to make our object vivid and bright.

Step 6

We don't want to watch movies with an empty bucket, do we? Let's fill it up with crunchy popcorn!

Make a simple circle with the Ellipse
Tool (L). Now take the Warp Tool
(Shift-R) and start deforming the circle, making bumps and dents. Add a smaller shape above for the inner part of the popcorn.

If your shape contains too many anchor
points after transformation, you can easily fix it with the Smooth Tool.

Step 7

Fill the popcorn shape with linear gradient
from light yellow in the middle to beige on the edges. Take the Pencil Tool (N) and draw a few squashed
shapes above, filling them with linear gradients from light yellow to black.
Switch the Blending Mode to Screen in order to form the highlights.
Add a few shadows in Multiply Blending
Mode as well.

Step 8

Add a darker brown shape for the middle of
our popcorn. Finally, make multiple copies and put the pieces of popcorn in the bucket, rotating
them and varying their size.

3. Create a Simple Film Reel From a Circle

Step 1

Start by making a circle and filling it with
linear gradient of various shades of grey, imitating a metal surface. Create
a smaller circle above the metal one. Align it with the center of
the basic metal shape and move it closer to the upper edge. Take the Rotate Tool (R), hold down the Alt key, and click in the middle of the
basic shape. Once you do that, you’ll have the pop-up Rotate options window revealed. Set the Angle value to 360/5 and
click the Copy button. Press Control-D several more
times to add five circles, forming a film bobbin.

Step 2

Cut out the circles, creating perforated
holes. Make a copy of the bobbin in the back (Control-C > Control-B) and increase its size a little. Fill the
copy with linear gradient from white on top to dark grey at the bottom,
adding dimension to the object.

Step 3

Create a smaller circle and place it behind
the metal shape so that it is visible through the holes. Fill the shape with a
dark brown linear gradient and add a group of concentric circles, thus forming
a reeled film tape inside the bobbin.

Add a shadow in Multiply Blending Mode to separate the reel from the upper
metal part, thus adding depth to our details.

Move on and add more glossiness to the
object by rendering the reflections on its surface in Screen Blending Mode.

4. Make a Film Clapper

Step 1

Start by forming a shape with the Rounded Rectangle Tool and filling it
with a dark linear gradient. Then grab the Rectangle
Tool (M) and add a narrow light stripe on top of the basic shape.

Step 2

The clapper usually has a set of skewed
stripes on its edges. Let’s add those too. Form a stripe, select its upper
anchor points with the Direct Selection
Tool (A), and move them to the right. Otherwise, you can use the Shear Tool for the same purpose. Hold
down both Alt and Shift keys and drag the shape to the
right, thus creating a copy.

Press Control-D to repeat the last action, creating more stripes, and hide the unnecessary
parts inside the Clipping Mask to
make the shapes neat.

Step 3

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a squashed shape above the upper part of
the clapper. Cut it and fill with linear gradient from black to greyish-blue.
Switch to Screen Blending Mode,
creating an overtone on a glossy surface.

Step 4

Select the striped part and use the Reflect Tool (O) to flip it over the Horizontal Axis, creating the second
half of the clapper.

Step 5

We need to make the shape more smooth by
rounding the upper right corner of the clapper. The built-in Round Corners effect won’t help us this time as it rounds all the
corners, while we need to transform only one of them. For this purpose, we’ll use
the Round Any Corner script for
Adobe Illustrator by Hiroyuki Sato, which you can download from Tuts+.
Select the corner you want to smoothen and run the script (press Control-F12 and select it in your folder), setting the Radius value to 7. Now you’ve got a nice rounded shape!

Step 6

Let’s add the fastening detail to the
halves of our clapper. Firstly, make a triangle shape with the help of the Polygon Tool and then split it into two
parts, by drawing a line across the center of the triangle and Dividing it in Pathfinder. Finally, make
all the corners slightly rounded.

Step 7

Create a simple screw by forming a circle
and putting a tiny highlight on top of it.

Group
(Control-G) both parts of the screw and add two
more copies to the fastening detail.

Finally, put the created detail in the
proper place, connecting the parts of our clapper, and add a few finishing touches.

Let’s put all the created items together,
making up a simple composition.

5. Render a Dimensional Film Tape

Step 1

In this part of the tutorial we’ll create a
realistic-looking film tape to enliven our composition.

Start by making a black
stripe for the base of the tape. Add two tiny squares in both upper corners of
the stripe. Go to Object > Blend >
Make and then open the Blend Options
in the same menu. Set the Spacing to
Specified Steps, value equals 20. Object > Expand the blend group
and place its copy in the bottom part of the black stripe.

Step 2

Add a group of white squares, depicting
blank film frames on the tape. Further on, select the created film tape and
drag it to the Symbols panel (Window > Symbols), thus creating a
new Movie Clip symbol (leave
all options in the pop-up Symbol Options window as default).

Step 3

Now we’re going to render the actual shape
of the film tape. Take the Pencil Tool
(N) and draw a smooth S-shaped line. Keeping the line selected, go
to Effect > 3D > Extrude &
Bevel. Check the Preview box and
move the cube around to position the tape properly. You can see my Extrude & Bevel Options in the
screenshot below. Keep the Options
window opened for a while—we have some more things to tweak here.

Step 4

Now let’s apply the tape texture that we created earlier. Click the Map Art
button in the 3D Extrude & Bevel
Options window. Here you need to switch the Surfaces and choose our film tape from the Symbols menu, applying it to each surface, which is visible. Press
the Scale to Fit button to adjust the
tape to the proper size automatically.

If the tape
symbol is not long enough to cover the entire surface, create a new longer tape and
place it in the Symbols panel as
well.

As you may notice, you need to cover only
the light areas in the Map Art window, whereas the grey ones remain invisible to the viewer.

Step 5

Prefect! If you are happy with the
result and not going to edit anything, go to Object
> Expand Appearance. Now we can start coloring it. Select the black
shape on the front surface of the tape and fill it with linear gradient of
dark blue shades, creating a glossy look.

Step 6

Apply a darker linear gradient to the film
frames, making them glossy as well.

Here is how the colored tape looks now.

Step 7

Let's cut out those small white pieces in the
upper and lower parts of the tape. Combine the squares into a Compound Path (Control-8) and use the Minus Front function in Pathfinder panel to create the holes.

Step 8

Now we need to place the back part of the
tape behind the film reel bobbin. For this purpose, we need to divide the upper
part of the tape. Let’s take the Knife
tool (you can find it in the same menu as the Eraser Tool). Select the shape, which you need to cut and draw a
line across it. Voila! You have two separate shapes. Group the back parts and Send them to Back (Control-Shift-[).

Step 9

Create a similar film tape on the other
side of the poster, next to the popcorn bucket, to balance the composition.

If you want to add a bit more realism, you
can duplicate the film frames and then cut out the holes of the same size,
lowering the Opacity of the frames
down to 90% to make them
semi-transparent. You can check my Winter Candle Lantern Tutorial for a more descriptive method of making
semi-transparent surfaces.

Here is how the overall composition should
look at this stage:

6. Add a Glamorous Sparkling Background

Step 1

To make our image glossier, let’s create the effect of a mirror surface under the items. To start with, make a reflected
copy of the 3D glasses and copy it once more, so that we have two copies one
above the other (Control-C >
Control-F). Select the upper copy and Unite
it in Pathfinder panel, thus turning
it into a single shape. Fill the created shape with linear gradient from black
in the bottom to white at the top.

Step 2

Select both copies that we’ve created and
click the Make Mask button in the Transparency panel to create an Opacity Mask. As you can see, the black part of the
shape became transparent, turning the shape into a gentle reflection of our 3D
glasses.

Create the reflections for the other items using the same technique.

Looks glossy enough! Let’s move on and
enliven the background.

Step 3

Create a square covering our Artboard and
fill it with a vivid radial gradient from light lilac in the middle to darker
violet at the edge. Squash the gradient a bit and move its center point closer
to the top of our image, darkening the bottom part.

Step 4

Make a few minor changes to add more
brightness and vividness to our picture. Switch the Blending Mode of the glasses to Color and put a gentle shadow in Multiply Blending Mode under each item.

Step 5

Add more depth to the background, by
placing a group of circles behind our objects. Fill them with radial gradient from black to bright lilac and switch to Screen Blending Mode, creating
a blurred bokeh effect. You can also add a finishing touch by scattering a few sparkles here and there for a more glamorous look.

And Cut! Your Cinema Poster Is Finished!

Congratulations, you’ve done a great job on
creating a glamorous, detailed poster with movie items! I hope you’ve learned some
new tips and trick to use in your future projects. Let the inspiration guide
you!